Aging is a funny thing.
We can’t live without it and living with it requires a whole lot of acceptance, fortitude, grace and TOOLS. The tool we’ll share here is YOGA. Why yoga? Yes, yoga has stood the test of time as a nectar for the well-being of body, mind and soul, but equally important, yoga is about ACCEPTANCE. The body we show up with on the mat today is not the same body as yesterday. It may be more able or less so. Either way, today it is the body we have and we need to ACCEPT any limitations it shows us.
Through asana (postures), pranayama (breath exercises), meditation and philosophy, we’ll strive to practice yoga in a sustainable, steady manner, honouring the needs of our changing body and respecting and accepting how we move on and off the mat.
About Anna’s Journey:
All journeys begin with a quest – a looking for something. I was looking for a safe harbour for my injured knee from running and bruised spirit from a divorce. I don’t even recall how yoga entered my sphere, but I soon found myself in an Iyengar Yoga studio. For years I studied under the firm tutelage of Mayhar Raz, a leading Iyengar teacher in Canada, where I learned the proper alignment of poses and the use of breath and props to support those asanas. I knew yoga nourished not only the body, but also the mind and spirit. I hadn’t found the last two links yet until discovering the Sivanada Yoga Vedanta Ashram in Nassau, Bahamas. The Ashram and Sivananda Yoga became that safe harbour exposing me not just to the physical practice of yoga, but introducing philosophy, chanting and mantras. Finally, body, mind and spirit united. Years of annual pilgrimages to the Ashram led me to train as a Sivanada Yoga Teacher in 2012. I was now hungry for more. Teacher trainings soon followed in Meditation, Vinyasa/Hatha Yoga; Restorative Yoga and Modified Yoga. Courses in yoga philosophy, mobility movement and pilates remind me that I choose to never stop learning. I am so grateful for the expertise and guidance of my teachers, current and former. Without their guidance, love and support my life and teachings would be less rich.
Anatomy fascinates me. How all our body parts engage and support each other. How your pelvis puts up its hand and jumps in to help you if your hamstrings are too tight. My work background is in architecture and design. How to support a building, in this case setting up a firm foundation for our pose, is key to a well structured asana where you feel empowered. If we can experience some control over our body, perhaps we can take that off the mat and feel more empowered in other areas of our life. Here, you’ll find sprinklings of anatomy and ways to build structural support for our poses. More importantly, we’ll learn to modify our postures to deal with anatomical changes due to aging. We’re all on this journey. Let’s practice to learn, laugh and support one another. WELCOME!!
